|
|
|
|
China cancels new textile export
tariffs
BEIJING - China announced Monday
it would no longer impose export tariffs on
81 categories of textile products after Wednesday. A
previous decision to quintuple the export tariffs on
74 textile categories, on which export tariffs were
imposed from January 1 of this year, was
revoked, according to sources from the Customs
Tariff Commission of the State Council, China's
cabinet. The export tariff on flax yarn will also
be abolished, the commission said.
"If
some countries have imposed restrictive measures
upon China's textile goods, then China needs to
revoke export tariffs on these goods, because the
country cannot make its textile exporters shoulder
double pressures," said Chinese Minister of
Commerce Bo Xilai here Monday afternoon at a press
conference held by the State Council Information
Office. "Since the United States and European
Union have imposed quantitative restrictions on
Chinese textile goods, how can the Chinese
government continue to impose export tariffs?" Bo
said. The Chinese government must treat their
enterprises fairly, he added.
Monday's
decision was announced in the wake of the EU
decision to impose quotas on imports of Chinese
textiles, as well as the earlier US decision to
reimpose restrictions on seven kinds of Chinese
textile and clothing imports. On January 1, when
global textile quotas were eliminated, China
voluntarily imposed export tariffs on some textile
goods to limit its export growth. Then, on May 20,
China decided to raise export tariffs on 74
categories of textile products again, with a 400%
hike for most of the products.
But the
United States and the European Union, disregarding
these voluntary measures taken by China, still
imposed strict restrictive measures on textile
imports from China since the beginning of this
year. "If developed countries had eliminated their
textile quota restrictions step by step, the surge
of Chinese textile exports to their markets this
year [could have been] avoided," said Bo. The US
and EU retained most of their quota restrictions
on competitive textile products from developing
countries until the last minute, which led to a
rapid growth of Chinese textile exports
immediately after the global quotas were canceled,
he said.
The decision by the Chinese
government to revoke textile export tariffs is
"wise", Zhang Yansheng, director of the Foreign
Economy Institute of the State Development and
Reform Commission, told Xinhua. Export tariff
levies are voluntary measures taken by the
government to limit exports, and it is reasonable
for the country to raise or revoke export tariffs
if circumstances change, Zhang said. "The
abolition of textile export tariffs shows that the
Chinese government fully understands the enormous
difficulties faced by Chinese enterprises," he
noted.
Abolishing the tariffs will reduce
the export costs of Chinese enterprises to some
extent, but the key obstacle blocking China's
textile exports is the unreasonable restrictions
imposed by the US and the EU, said general manager
Zhong Zhijie of Baimei Apparel Company in eastern
Zhejiang province.
China's textile
industry welcomes and supports the tariff
abolition measures, said Sun Huaibin, spokesman
for the China Textile Industry Council. "This
shows the textile trade disputes between China and
the US and EU have not been solved, and will
probably continue for the next three to eight
years," he told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.
To face the new challenges, the country's textile
sector should readjust its export strategy and
introduce more advanced technology to increase the
value-added of its products, Sun Huaibin said.
(Asia Pulse/XIC) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
All material on this
website is copyright and may not be republished in any form without written
permission.
© Copyright 1999 - 2005 Asia Times
Online Ltd.
|
|
Head
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Kong
Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
|
|
|
|
